


Seeing Stars

by Shippy-Things (seraphic_gate)



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Doctors & Physicians, M/M, Massage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 07:06:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7747924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraphic_gate/pseuds/Shippy-Things
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moden AU - Sorey is a masseuse, and Mikleo is an ER doctor with a lot of pent up stress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Mikleo had a guilty pleasure.  He liked his massage therapist a little too much.  Not that “Sorey” (as it said on his name tag) wasn’t a good masseuse.  In fact, he was one of the best Mikleo had ever interacted with.  He wasn’t too rough with his hands, but he wasn’t too soft either.  He was just kind of chatty.

 

“You’re extra tense today,” Sorey said, working on his shoulders.  “Stressed out?”

 

“Yeah…”  Mikleo wasn’t much for small talk in these situations.  He knew bedside manner was part of the job.  You needed to make patients feel relaxed.  But he always felt awkward asking people with severe injuries or violent illnesses how their day was going.  Sorey didn’t deal with the sick and wounded, but he imagined he got tired of it all the same.

 

“Do you have any other way to relax?” Sorey asked.  “You’re in here sometimes twice a week.”

 

“Not really.”  Mikleo had inherited some money from his grandfather that put him through medical school, and years later working as an emergency physician, he was raking in money and had nothing else, and no one else, to spend it on.  Trips to the spa helped to offset the stress of the job.  And um, well if he liked looking at his massage therapist, there was that, too.

 

“Doctor, right?”  Sorey chuckled as he hit a particularly wound-up spot in Mikleo’s lower trapezius muscle.  

 

He wished he wouldn’t ask him questions right as he was making him moan like that.  He kept his mouth shut and tried to muffle it.  He was sure “Sorey” heard plenty of embarrassing noises in his line of work, but he still didn’t want to be loud about it.

 

“Yes, I’m a physician.”

 

“Oh, so you have patients, too!  What kind of doctor are you?”

 

“Emergency Room.”

 

“Wow.  No wonder you’re all tensed up every time you come in.”

 

“Hm.”  That was the end of the discussion, and Mikleo was glad for it.

 

  * \- -



 

After the session, Sorey wiped down the massage chair and washed his hands.  It never sat well with him when that patient left.  He liked seeing the young doctor, but he worried he didn’t like him very much.

 

“You can’t make friends with everyone,” is what Rose said.  His roommate Rose had heard all about the mysterious (and cute) patient.   Sorey knew she was right, but he tried to test that rule at every chance.  All of his patients loved him, and they always came back for more sessions.  

 

That was the weird part.  Mikleo scheduled by far the most sessions, and refused to see anyone else but him.  But every time he tried to talk to Mikleo, ask him how his day was, or just give him an outlet for all that stress, Mikleo was frigid and clammy as a cold fish.  Only metaphorically.  His skin was pretty smooth, actually.

 

Sorey considered many times that it might be better if someone else saw Mikleo.  In addition to the cold attitude, he also found him maybe a little too attractive.  The sounds he made were a little too cute.  But Mikleo refused to see anyone else, and Sorey figured he could just be professional about it.  He could try not to think about that when he was touching him.

 

Edna poked her head in through the room’s door.  She wore the same flat expression as usual.  “Can I get your help in the back?” she asked.  “I can’t reach some supplies I need to restock.”  Edna was the owner of the practice and also a very short woman.  

 

“No problem, I’m just finishing up.”

 

Sorey checked to make sure that everything in his station was sanitary and in order, and followed Edna to the back room.  It was organized well, but the space wasn’t very big.  As a result, there were some boxes of supplies stacked up high on shelves, and Edna hadn’t yet invested in a bigger ladder.  Just the two-step one.

 

“What do you need?” 

 

Edna sighed and pointed.  “There’s a box of invoice slips and receipt paper some idiot put up on the highest shelf.  Even if I was tall enough to reach it, I don’t think I could lift the box on my own.”  

 

“Leave it to me!”

 

Edna rolled her eyes at Sorey puffing out his chest.  “I should have just bought more…”

 

“Nonsense.”  Sorey stood on his toes on the highest step and reached for the box.  “This is what I’m here for!”

 

“Stop messing around,” Edna groaned.

 

“I’m not--Ah!”  Edna was right.  Whoever shelved this box hadn’t given any thought to how much the paper weighed, or how uneven it was.  Soon as he lifted it, he started to lose his balance.

 

Edna watched him fall, box toppling down on top of him.  “Sorey,  _ shit _ \--are you all right?”

 

He was on his back sprawled out on the storage room’s cold concrete floor.  He wasn’t unconscious, but he’d hit his head pretty hard.  The box and the pads and rolls of paper inside it hadn’t done much damage except to his pride as he laid covered in them.

 

Edna knelt beside him and for a second he saw two of her spinning around him.  “Zaveid!” she shouted.  “Get your ass in here!”

 

Assistant manager Zaveid heard her from who knows how far away, and came running.  “Yikes!” he said, at the site of Sorey on the floor.

 

“This idiot lost his balance on a freaking step ladder,” she groaned.  “I need you to take him to the ER.”

 

“I’m fine,” Sorey said.  Or tried to say.  A different string of sounds came out of his mouth.  They may not have even been words, he couldn’t tell.

 

Zaveid whistled in amazement.  “You are definitely not, buddy.”

 

“It’s your fault, Zaveid,” Edna grumbled at him.  “You packed the box all weird.”

 

Sorey only caught parts of this conversation as he felt himself being lifted and carried out to the parking lot, where Zaveid carefully placed him in the passenger’s side of his car and began to drive him to the hospital.

 

  * \- -



 

The ER was a hot and cold kind of environment.  Some nights Mikleo wouldn’t see any more than a few kids with the sniffles or a dumb husband who’d cut himself trimming hedges.  Other nights it would be major car accidents, or shootings, or attempted suicides, and those wore away at the spirit.  This night was going well so far, if only because nobody had died on him yet.  

 

He looked over the chart of the next to be seen.  Concussion.  MRI confirmed no serious damage.  An easy one, and he was glad to have caught it.

 

He felt like an idiot when he hadn’t even looked at the name, and went in to find a familiar face.  

 

“Sorey” from the spa was lying on the rolling bed, in just a hospital gown of course.  In a chair in the corner of the room was a tall, long-haired man with a heavy tan going.  He looked familiar, so he wondered if he’d also seen him at the spa before.

 

Sorey’s face lit up with recognition as he realized who his doctor would be.  

 

“What a surprise,” Mikleo said, smirking.  “Looks like you’re on my table now.”

 

Sorey chuckled awkwardly.  “Yeah, sorry?”

 

Mikleo ignored the apology.  It didn’t make much sense to him to apologize for an accident like this.  He looked over the chart.  “This says you hit your head while...” he paused and continued.  “Heroically pushing a young child out of traffic.”

 

“That’s not what happened!”  Sorey looked frantically to his friend.  “Zaveid, what did you write down?” 

 

“Hey, I was just trying to help you score with the hot nurses,” Zaveid answered.  

 

Mikleo rolled his eyes.  “Since your friend may have falsified some data here, I’m going to ask you some questions.  But first, I am going to say a few random words.  Compass, apple, comb.  Got that?”

 

“Compass, apple, comb,” Sorey repeated.

 

“Good, now do you have any allergies that you know of?”

 

“No, I’ve never had allergies.”

 

He ticked that off on the chart.  “Were you drinking or using any drug prior to the inciden?”

 

“I did have some wine.  Tuesday.”

 

Mikleo laughed.  “Since it’s Friday now that really doesn’t matter.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“So what really happened?  Describe how you felt, like did you feel dizzy or nauseous?”

 

Sorey told the story briefly like a lot of the patients, he’d likely been through the paramedic and the triage nurses already and was tired of telling it.  “My boss asked me to pull down a box from the top shelf.  I pulled it out, and then I lost my balance and fell backwards.  I hit the back of my head and then everything gets a little fuzzy.  I was dizzy for a while, and my head hurt really bad.”

 

“Does it still hurt?”

 

“Not that much, but I am having trouble thinking clearly.  The triage nurse asked me the same stuff and I couldn’t answer very well back then.”

 

Mikleo smiled.  “Well, you definitely had a concussion, but your MRI showed no bleeding in the brain.  You can take tylenol for the headache, but avoid ibupropfen and advil.  You need to rest and avoid both strenuous activity.  That includes thinking too much, too.  Don’t try to do your taxes or write a novel or anything.”

 

“Can I still read books?”  Sorey was pouting at the idea that he might not be able to, and that was incredibly cute.  Mikleo had to suppress his smile.

 

“Yes, books are okay as long as they’re not too difficult.  Can you tell me what those words I told you were?”

 

“Oh!”  He paused for a second.  “Compass, comb, and apple, right?”

 

“Yes.  You seem pretty lucid now.  Just take it easy.  You’ve got a concussion.  In layman’s terms, you pretty much bruised your brain.”

 

“Oh.  Well that doesn’t sound good.”  

 

Mikleo laughed again.  “It’s really not,” he said, but he hoped his smile was reassuring enough.  “We’re not going to release you for a few hours though, just to make sure.  Just sit back, watch TV, play with your phone, whatever.  Just try not to fall asleep.  Do you have any questions for me?”

 

Sorey shook his head.

 

“Okay then, I’ll check in on you in a little while.  Call the nurse right away if anything changes.”       

 

  * \- -



 

Sorey watched him leave, and still couldn’t believe it.  He had either the best or worst luck!  Mikleo was wearing scrubs and a lab coat, and he had glasses on.  He always dressed casually whenever he came in for a session, and it was such a contrast.  He looked so sharp and professional.  And he smiled.  His eyes kind of sparkled when he laughed, and it was great.

 

“That’s that doctor guy you like,” Zaveid whispered like they were two teenage girls in a class.  

 

“I don’t like him any more than the usual amount!”  They were alone in the room so there wasn’t any point to keeping their voices down, but he still felt embarrassed at how loud that had come out.

 

“Psh!”  Zaveid waved his hand.  “You should have stuck with the kid-in-traffic story!”

 

Sorey leaned back in the bed and tried to stop from blushing.  Mikleo did look amazing in his work clothes, but that didn’t change the fact that Mikleo didn’t like him very much.  But he had smiled, so maybe he did?  Or maybe he was just being nice because this was his job, and Sorey was his patient.  “You should probably go home, Zaveid.  I’m fine now, but I could be here for hours.”

 

“All right, but you call me when you are ready for a ride home.  They said you shouldn’t nod off, so I’ll leave the TV on for you.”

 

He clicked on the room’s little corner-mounted television and handed the remote to Sorey.  He smiled.  Zaveid might be bad at packing shelves and at being a wingman as well, but he did honestly care about him.  “Thanks.”

 

  * \- -



 

When Mikleo entered the room again, Sorey was trying not to doze off while watching the nightly news.  

 

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

 

Sorey laughed in an awkward tone.  “Better.”

 

“I’m going to have you stand up and take a few steps now just to make sure you aren’t still suffering any dizziness.  It’d be bad if you fell again.”

 

He offered his arm to Sorey for support.  This wasn’t strictly part of his job, the nurse could have done it.  But there wasn’t anyone dying anywhere that night, so he spared himself the extra minute or two.  

 

Sorey took his arm carefully and stood.  

 

Mikleo led him around the room and noticed he didn’t seem to be having any issues.  “That makes me feel better about your safety,” he said.  Then he laughed.  “Honestly, you fell off a step stool?  At least you should get worker’s comp for that.”

 

“Hey, I don’t tease you when you’re on my table.”

 

“Right, sorry.  You really could embarrass me if you wanted to.”  

 

“Ah, I’m just kidding!”

 

Mikleo scribbled on his notepad.  “I’ll write you a prescription for the medicine so your insurance should pick it up.  I’m also going to refer you to a colleague for a  follow-up exam.”

 

“I guess you don’t do those.”

 

“No, I do,” Mikleo said.  “But it’s a conflict of interest for me to date patients.”

 

He wasn’t sure if it was the concussion or just general naivete, but Sorey stared back at him blankly, not getting it.  “Why would that…”

 

Mikleo handed him the prescription, which he’d written his personal phone number over the top of.

 

“Oh.”

 

“You can call me.”  Mikleo shrugged.  “If you feel like it.”

 

  * \- -



 

It seemed unfair that his doctor would tell him not to think too hard, and then present him with a situation like that.  In Zaveid’s car on the way to his home, he stared at the number, reading it over again with each passing street lamp.

 

“Nice,” Zaveid said.  That’s all he said, thankfully.

 

They pulled up to Sorey’s house.  Since landing the job at Ladylake Spa, he had been earning a pretty steady paycheck and managed to finance his own home.  Rose came running from the front door to greet him.  She helped make ends meet, but he could have survived without her.  The real reason he invited her to live with him was because he got so lonely.

 

“What the heck did you do?”

 

“Long story,” Sorey said, as Zaveid helped him get out of the car.  “I need to lay down.”

 

Rose took him off Zaveid’s hands and led him inside.  

 

“You’ll be proud of me,” Sorey said, as she deposited him on the couch.

 

“You fell from less that two feet off the ground and got a concussion,” Rose said flatly.  “Should I be proud of spectacularly you messed up?”

 

“And I also got my cute doctor’s phone number, see?” he waved the paper in the air.

 

“Okay okay,” Rose laughed.  “That’s fist-bump worthy.”

 

Sorey raised his hand to reciprocate the gesture.  


	2. Chapter 2

The couch seemed like the best spot for a good long rest.  The TV was in the living room, and it was adjacent to the kitchen.  Binge watching a cooking competition all night, he lost track of time.

He knew he wasn’t supposed to work too hard at thinking since his brain was bruised, or whatever the doctor had said.  But he wanted to call Mikleo right away.

Then again, a call might be too forward.  He could still be at work.  Doctors had to work at all hours, after all.  A text.  A text would be a better idea!  He grabbed his phone and keyed in the number.

“Hi!  It’s Sorey.  Are you still at work?”

The text method also gave him a minute to breathe before the response came.  Or that’s what he thought would happen.  His phone beeped.

“No, I’m at home now.  You should be resting.”

“Ah!”  Sorey jumped a little at reading it.  So blunt.  Did this guy really like him?  He texted back, “I’m not thinking at all, I promise.”

A message back.  “You’re funny.”

Sorey really hadn’t meant to make that into a joke, but funny was good, right?  He thought about what he wanted to tell him next.  His thumbs input and then erased a few variations, but he settled on, “When I’m well enough, I would like to go somewhere with you.”

There was a long pause.

“Where?”

Sorey was so wrapped up in this text message communication that he hadn’t noticed Rose enter the living room to get herself a glass of water.  She leaned in over his shoulder and read the whole conversation.  “This guy sucks at flirting.”

Sorey squeaked in alarm and dropped his phone.  “Rose!”

“He’s playing some high tier hard-to-get.”

“I’m sure that’s not it at all.”  Sorey sulked and picked the phone back up.  Mikleo hadn’t said anything else.  “He’s a cute doctor.  Cute doctors probably have so many options, they don’t even have to try that hard.”

“Yeah, but you’re a sexy masseuse, my man.”  Rose sat down next to him on the couch and slapped him on the shoulder.  “You’ve got to start playing that card if you want any action.”

“I’m a  _ massage therapist _ .”

“Yeah whatever.  So, where are you going to take him?”

Sorey smirked.  “Just watch.”  He finger-typed his response into the digital keyboard on his phone.  “How about I take you out for some ice cream?”

Rose began to snicker.  “Smooth, Sorey.  Ice cream.  Let a guy know you’re serious.”

“B-but everybody loves ice cream, right?”

  * \- - 



Mikleo had gotten home to his condominium at about 4 AM.  A night with no deaths was a good night.  Maybe that’s why he’d gotten a bit ahead of himself and asked out the cute spa guy.  It didn’t occur  to him until later that if he screwed this up, he wouldn’t be able to get massages from him anymore.  It might be worth the risk.

He showered quickly, then crashed into his bed without even changing out of his robe into proper pajamas.  He swore he could feel all twelve layers of his comfort foam.  The cooling gel and hybrid springs were worth every penny.    


That’s when he heard his phone’s text alert buzz and cursed, thinking somebody needed him somewhere, and he just wanted to  _ sleep _ .  He looked.  Unknown number.  Sorey.

He snapped out of his half-sleeping doze and responded to him very seriously, without any over-familiar gestures or emoticons--they weren’t anywhere near close enough for emoticons.    


“How about I take you out for some ice cream?”

A smile spread across his face.  What a cute idea.  Innocent, no strings attached. And who didn’t like ice cream?     


“That sounds great,” he texted back.  Uncomplicated.  He liked it.

Then he got an emoticon, kind of a scary one actually, with big red lips.  It winked and a little heart came out.

“DON’T PAY ATTENTION TO THAT! MY ROOMMATE SENT THAT!”

Mikleo laughed.    


“Ha ha.  I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  * -



“ _ Ha ha? _  This guy doesn’t say LOL?”  Rose shrugged.  “Seems uptight to me.”

Sorey hadn’t realized how late it was.  Almost morning.  “Shh, go back to bed!”

“Okay,” he texted back.  “Goodnight.”

Mikleo texted back, “Goodnight.”

  * \- -



On the phone, Sorey had been pleasant, but not too talkative.  It seemed strange, the way he’d always been so keen on striking up conversations during their sessions.  But Mikleo was pretty shy about this kind of thing.  He’d always been a workaholic.  Late twenties, and he had only been on a few dates, none fruitful.    


Some people might think Mikleo’s lack of a sex life was strange for someone his age, but maybe he was just an old fashioned romantic.  It wasn’t that he expected to marry his first love and grow old with them, but he wanted something.  Something more than what was available to him.    


Because of his small stature, his youth, and his feminine appearance, other men rich and affluent men had expected him to fill a certain role.  They underestimated his intellect and the depth of his personality.  Those men had been surprised to find out that the cute med student wasn’t a some free-wheeling nympho. The dates hadn’t gone well.

But Sorey seemed different.  At least, Mikleo hoped he was reading him right.  He hadn’t said anything even vaguely sexual, despite their awkwardly close relationship as client and masseuse.      


Mikleo rarely had full days off when he wasn’t at least on call, but Sorey of course was home from work sick the rest of the week, so arranging a date wasn’t difficult at all.

He arrived at the ice cream shop where they’d decided to meet.  It wasn’t even a fancy or trendy place.  Just a few dinky little tables, a woman behind the counter making cones for children, 31 flavors, nothing fancy. Sorey was already sitting there, hands in his lap, tapping his feet nervously.  He was wearing a tee shirt that said “history buff” in old-timey lettering, and had one of those antique circus weightlifters with the curly mustaches printed on it.

Mikleo smiled.  He felt a warm feeling in his heart that he’d never felt on a date before.    


He sat down across from Sorey.  “You’re looking better,” he said.  “Did you see my friend, Alisha?”

“Oh, Doctor Diphda!  Yeah, I saw her the other day and she cleared me for work.  I’m taking advantage of the paid time off they gave though, haha.”

“You should, after an accident like that.”

“Should we get ice cream?” Sorey asked him.  “Or if you want, just tell me what you like and I’ll order it for you.”

“I haven’t decided.”  He stood again and looked into the glass where they had the many different flavors.  “Mint chocolate chip,” he said.  “Just one scoop, in a bowl.”

“You got it,” the lady behind the counter said.

After she was done, Sorey stepped up.  “I’ll have my usual,” he said.    


Mikleo snorted a laugh.  “Come here often?”

The ice cream shop employee chuckled as she split a banana and filled it with so many flavors of ice cream and toppings that Mikleo lost count.  “Oh, he’s in here twice a week at least!”

Mikleo laughed outright at that.  “Does he have a different date every time?”

“Nah, you’d be the first.”    


“Come on Sam,” Sorey whined.  Mikleo looked at her nametag to see that it was her name.  His date was on a first name basis with the ice cream lady.  “You’re gonna embarrass me.”

“How much?” Mikleo asked.

“Nope, I’m paying.”

Mikleo expected as much, and smiled.  “All right, but I get the next one.”

“Sam” took Sorey’s money and kept chuckling.  “You must be doing okay if he already wants a second date.”

“Geez,” Sorey sighed, and tipped her two dollars.    


They sat down again.  “So what exactly is that monstrosity?”

Sorey grinned as if he was proud of it.  “Sorey’s Super Banana Split!  I invented it.”  Then he looked at Mikleo’s small bowl and the wind fell right out of his sails.  “Would something else have been better?”

“No way,” Mikleo said, smiling to try to reassure him.  “I just don’t eat very large portions is all.  This is quite charming.  I’ve never been on a date quite like this.”

“Yeah, they don’t have a wine menu.”

Mikleo nearly snorted mint chocolate chip out of his nose at that, and went for a napkin to wipe his mouth.  “What’s kind of funny to me is, I think I go to your spa about as often as you come here for ice cream.”

“We’ve all got our outlets,” Sorey said.  He was making great progress on that giant heap of ice cream without getting a headache.  It was kind of impressive.  “I like being a massage therapist because I can help people.  I can make them feel comfortable around me, and work out whatever ails their bodies.  Then they can go to work or whatever they do and feel great.”

“That’s really nice.”  Mikleo smiled, capturing Sorey’s eyes for a moment.  He noticed for the first time how clear and green they were.  He envied him a little.    


“How about you?”  Sorey smiled back at him, waiting for him to respond.

“I want to help people too,” Mikleo said.  “The paycheck is nice, but I really just want to heal the sick and wounded.”

“Wow,” Sorey said, staring back at him.  “You’ve probably saved so many people’s lives, that’s amazing.”

Mikleo felt his face getting hotter and knew he was blushing.  He didn’t have relatives to praise him on the regular ever since Gramps passed.  He wasn’t used to it.  “Anyone with my opportunities could do the same,” he said.  “I mean, I’m not special or anything.  I came from a wealthy family.”

“No way, you totally are!”  Sorey’s eyes were sparkling.  Then he leaned back, deep in thought.  “I mean, you probably have to be really cool-headed with people’s lives on the line, and you have to make split-second decisions about the medicine or the procedures--come on, it’s pretty amazing.”

“Hm, okay.”

 

  * \- -



 

The way Mikleo blushed and rolled his shoulder, pushing a piece of hair behind his ear and looking off to the side was  _ so cute _ , Sorey wanted to keep complimenting him.  But he didn’t want to be weird on their first date.    


It would be easy to do it, too.  Mikleo was so handsome with a sky blue blazer over his black shirt.  His pale, almost-white, platinum blonde hair framed his face in perfect fluffy layers like a dove’s wings.    


His eyes were a matter of interest that Sorey had been trying to figure out ever since he first started showing up at the spa.  Light blue, or grey, he couldn’t quite tell.  A chameleon color that changed with the light, often appearing a lovely shade of violet.    


“I’m surprised you asked me like that,” Sorey said, opting to change the subject.  “I didn’t think you liked me very much.”

Mikleo blinked at him.  “Did I give off that impression?”

Sorey shook his head.  “I was surprised, but I was really happy, too.”

“Yeah?”

Sorey grinned.  He had to stop himself from going off on compliments again. “You seem really cool!”

Mikleo smiled back at him, and that was a good sign.  “It’s nice to talk to someone.”  He took another bite.  “I see that you like history.”

Sorey stared back at him blankly.  “How did you know?”

He laughed.  “Your shirt.”

“Oh!”  He’d been looking at Mikleo so intently, he forgot that he was wearing his lucky shirt.  “Yeah, total history nerd.”

“There’s that movie about ancient Rome playing,” Mikleo said.  “Maybe after you’ve finished your ice cream, we could go see it?  It looks really inaccurate, but maybe we can have fun.”

“Yeah!”  Sorey had suggested ice cream because it was super casual and had no set time frame, which meant if things weren’t going well, Mikleo could feel free to leave at any time.  Now that Mikleo was suggesting spending another few hours with him without any prompting, that had to mean it was going well.

 

  * \- -



 

They were the only ones with tickets to the showing they’d chosen.  Together they sat in the empty room, in the perfect middle row seats, as if they’d arranged it privately.  They soon found out why.  The movie was terrible.  The acting was bad and the special effects looked cheesy.    


“Oh man, I can’t believe they are making Pluto out like a one-dimensional bad guy!” Sorey slapped his forehead, laughing.  “He’s got horns and everything.”

Mikleo leaned in close so that Sorey could hear him over the movie.  “Yeah, the very defining feature distinguishing Pluto from the Greek Hades was his more positive persona, as the mythology became more and more conflated with the bounty of the earth.  They’re essentially the same God, but it doesn’t make sense to make a movie with Roman mythology and lean so hard into the Greek version.  Why not just set it in Greece?”

He looked away from the movie screen and found Sorey staring at him, his eyes wide and sparkling, mouth hanging open in astonishment.

Mikleo tore his eyes away and made himself look at the movie screen.  “What?”    


  * \- -



 

The sun was setting.  They left the theatre laughing and quoting bad lines to each other on overly-dramatized voices.    


Sorey squinted until his eyes adjusted to the light.  “Oh man, that was bad.

“It was fun, though.”    


“I’m glad I went to see it with you.  Nobody else ever knows what I’m talking about.”

Mikleo wore a smug little smirk. “That might just be you.”

That snark in his tone made Sorey forget about what he was going to say next.  He’d rather look at Mikleo, the way his eyes caught all the sunset colors around them.  That someone could be as pretty as they were smart, and that that person would be into him, well, it was still unbelievable.

“Mikleo?”    


Mikleo looked up.  “Huh?”

“Could I maybe, hold your hand?”

He smiled.  “I’d like that.”

As he wrapped his fingers around Mikleo’s, he realized how big his own hands were compared to his.  He shouldn’t have been surprised at how soft Mikleo’s skin was, but in this setting, he had almost forgotten this was the same person as the grumpy doctor on his massage table. 

“Sorry if I’m sweating a little.  Nervous.”

“Nervous?  But you’ve touched me plenty of times.”

“This is different, this is…”  Sorey gave his hand a squeeze.  “That was work.”

“Oh.” 

“Will I see you at the spa any time soon?”

Mikleo shook his head.  “If we’re going to date, it’s better if I don’t come in.”

“Someone else could treat you, there’s no reason to deprive yourself of back rubs just for my sake.”

“I don’t think I’ll need it.”

“Hm.”  Sorey raised his head and realized they’d made it back to the parking lot where Mikleo left his car.  He thought he should have gone for hand-holding sooner.  They’d barely started and now the date was over.

“Do you need a ride home?”

“Nah.  A friend is picking me up.”

“Then...”  Mikleo looked side to side, thinking.  “Can I see you again?”

“Sure, call me when you have a free day!”    


Mikleo laughed at him.  Sorey knew he should tone down his excitement and try to play it cool, but he just couldn’t.

 

  * \- -



 

Rose drove them home, snickering all the way.  “So, how far did you get?”

Sorey sucked in a deep breath of air and puffed out his chest.  “We held hands.”

“Pfft!  Weak sauce!”

“Huh?  I thought I did good!”

“For you.”  Rose sighed.  “At least tell me you put some sensual masseuse moves on his hands or something.”

“ _ Massage therapist. _ ”

 

  * \- -



  
  


Mikleo returned to work the next day, and it would be over a week until his next day off.    


Usually the first day after a break was the worst, knowing that so much time and work laid ahead before he’d be able to relax again.  But he’d already scheduled to pick Sorey up the Tuesday after the next, and take him out on date two.  The ice cream shop had been such a cute idea, he knew he had to do something just as special.

He stepped into the cafeteria to buy his lunch. 

The sound of giggles and girls hushing each other greeted him.  At the corner table, Lailah and Alisha were trying very hard to be inconspicuous.  He scowled and dropped his tray against the table.  “What?”

“Oh nothing,” Lailah said, twisting a piece of hair around her index finger.  “Just…  you seem to be in a good mood.”

Alisha nibbled a celery stick and spoke in a timid tone.  “Did your date go well?”

“Date? How did you know?”

“You sent him to me, that means you must like him!”

“You act like I’m always sending you patients so I can make moves on them.”

“No no, just this on”

Laliah giggled.  “Is he cute?”

“None of your business.”

Alisha answered for him.  “He is!” 

“Where did you take him?”

“He took me--you know, it’s none of your business!”

“Just coffee or dinner?” Alisha asked.

Lailah started shouting out guesses.  “Dancing?  Movie?  Ice skating?”

Mikleo balked.  _  “Ice skating?” _

“It’s a perfectly fine date,” Alisha said, and started to look dreamy.  “You can take the other person by the hand and help them stay balanced, or share a scarf when you get too cold--”

“Where the heck would I have gone ice skating?”

“At the indoor rink downtown?” Lailah laughed.  “Poor Mikleo, you don’t get out very much.”

The two girls let a moment pass where neither said anything, and Mikleo hoped it was over.  Then Alisha got a sparkly look in her eyes.  “Second date?”

“Yes, I’m taking him out next time.”

That was the wrong thing to say.  Laila jumped, grabbing his arm.  “Let us help you plan!” she begged him.  “Please, please, please?”

Mikleo groaned.  Saying no was futile.  You accepted Lailah’s help, or she helped you anyway.  She wasn’t completely bad at it, either.  The closest thing to a big sister, maybe even a mom, that he could ever have.  “Fine, what do you think?”

Lailah and Alisha passed grins between each other, and Mikleo began to regret everything.


End file.
